Fry and Glamourdale win World Cup Freestyle
Great Britain’s Lottie Fry and her superstar stallion Glamourdale won the eleventh and last leg of the FEI Dressage World Cup™ 2022/2023 Western European League.
On an afternoon that proved challenging for a number of horse-and-rider combinations, the reigning double-individual world champions quickly recovered after a surprising moment of discord during canter half-pass to post the winning score of 86.835. The Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere (Hermes NOP) finished second ahead of Germany’s Isabell Werth (Emilio) and Benjamin Werndl (Famoso OLD) in third and fourth places while the exciting new Dutch combination of Marieke van der Putten and Torveslettens Titanium finished fifth.
There were nine places up for grabs for the 2023 series Final which kicks off in Omaha, USA on 4 April and, finishing sixth on the leaderboard, Fry has made the cut. However the 27-year-old athlete could not confirm if she will take the busy breeding stallion, with which she won individual double-gold at the ECCO FEI World Championships last summer, across the Atlantic in three weeks’ time. “I’m not sure, but we will make plans shortly”, she said this evening.
Fry and Glamourdale entered into the ring and it was quickly clear that their score was going to put them out in front, especially after earning 10s across the board for their first extended canter and 9.3 for lovely two-tempi changes. But the stallion suddenly shook his head and spooked during the canter half-pass and although he quickly regained his equilibrium the lost points left the pair with a final tally of 86.835, well below the 90.995 they posted when winning in London last Christmas.
“It was a shame, because he did some of his very best work today!”, Fry said afterwards. “It is a big arena with a lot of atmosphere and he came back and we finished well so I am happy tonight!”, she added.
Dinja van Liere and Hermes NOP, double-bronze medallists at last year’s World Championship, started out with sensational passage/piaffe and the most wonderful rhythm they looked set to really blow the lid off the competition. But the 13-year-old stallion became increasingly tense and they finished on a mark of 83.375 - less than the 87.055 they posted to win on home ground in Amsterdam in January but good enough to temporarily take the lead today. “Hermes gets more excited when there is a lot of people, but I am still very happy about our progress together and where we are going. He can be very good in piaffe/passage which I think were my best ever today. I need to get him more quiet in the canter now," said Van Liere.
That big atmosphere also seemed to get to Werth’s 15-year-old gelding Emilio who threw in some high jinks before they entered the arena to score 82.670 which would leave them in third.
“He went on fire when Lottie’s result came up!”, Werth explained. “I was very satisfied with the first part, but I lost him a little in the canter work which is a shame as I there lost the possibility to compete with Lottie. But it was a great atmosphere here today and at the end this is want counts”, pointed out the lady who knows more about atmosphere than most.
On an afternoon that proved challenging for a number of horse-and-rider combinations, the reigning double-individual world champions quickly recovered after a surprising moment of discord during canter half-pass to post the winning score of 86.835. The Netherlands’ Dinja van Liere (Hermes NOP) finished second ahead of Germany’s Isabell Werth (Emilio) and Benjamin Werndl (Famoso OLD) in third and fourth places while the exciting new Dutch combination of Marieke van der Putten and Torveslettens Titanium finished fifth.
There were nine places up for grabs for the 2023 series Final which kicks off in Omaha, USA on 4 April and, finishing sixth on the leaderboard, Fry has made the cut. However the 27-year-old athlete could not confirm if she will take the busy breeding stallion, with which she won individual double-gold at the ECCO FEI World Championships last summer, across the Atlantic in three weeks’ time. “I’m not sure, but we will make plans shortly”, she said this evening.
Fry and Glamourdale entered into the ring and it was quickly clear that their score was going to put them out in front, especially after earning 10s across the board for their first extended canter and 9.3 for lovely two-tempi changes. But the stallion suddenly shook his head and spooked during the canter half-pass and although he quickly regained his equilibrium the lost points left the pair with a final tally of 86.835, well below the 90.995 they posted when winning in London last Christmas.
“It was a shame, because he did some of his very best work today!”, Fry said afterwards. “It is a big arena with a lot of atmosphere and he came back and we finished well so I am happy tonight!”, she added.
Dinja van Liere and Hermes NOP, double-bronze medallists at last year’s World Championship, started out with sensational passage/piaffe and the most wonderful rhythm they looked set to really blow the lid off the competition. But the 13-year-old stallion became increasingly tense and they finished on a mark of 83.375 - less than the 87.055 they posted to win on home ground in Amsterdam in January but good enough to temporarily take the lead today. “Hermes gets more excited when there is a lot of people, but I am still very happy about our progress together and where we are going. He can be very good in piaffe/passage which I think were my best ever today. I need to get him more quiet in the canter now," said Van Liere.
That big atmosphere also seemed to get to Werth’s 15-year-old gelding Emilio who threw in some high jinks before they entered the arena to score 82.670 which would leave them in third.
“He went on fire when Lottie’s result came up!”, Werth explained. “I was very satisfied with the first part, but I lost him a little in the canter work which is a shame as I there lost the possibility to compete with Lottie. But it was a great atmosphere here today and at the end this is want counts”, pointed out the lady who knows more about atmosphere than most.